Microbial Life

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Trichodesmium, shown in this micrograph, is a photosynthetic bacteria, common in warm, tropical and subtropical surface waters. Trichodesmium cells form filaments called trichomes that associate into the roughly 2mm colonies seen in these images. Turns out this intriguing microbe is also the source of an essential nutrient in the ocean. (Photo by Abby Heithoff, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)